Major Spoilers Poll of the Week (POW!): The Doctor’s best companion

Over the years, the Doctor has had a number of travel companions, that get into trouble, keep the Doctor out of trouble, or just generally serve as eye candy for fans. This week, Major Spoilerite Jason wants to know who has been the best from his short list.

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54 Comments

I voted Sarah Jane. She’s been my favorite since I was a little kid, and I still loved her even if her spinoff was cheesy. I do like Amy, and I have a slight crush on Rose, but they can’t compare to Sarah Jane in my eyes.

Of the available options, I go with Sarah Jane for the same reasons. I do love me some Amy (and Rory), but Sarah Jane wins out.

Actually, if we were to look at all the companions, male and female, new and old, I’d almost have to vote Rory. His character arc is awesome, and the opening scene of “When a Good Man Goes to War” was simply astounding.

Also, as my middle name is Adric, I have to put in a write in for the twerp.

Of the new companions? Donna Noble by leaps and bounds, the fact she was never a love interest gave her room for more character development (less sad one sided puppy love scenes, which killed the Martha Jones character for me). Long before she was the “Doctor Donna” she was the Doctor’s equal and addressed him as such, she was a no-nonsense in your face woman and wasn’t just a wide eyed girl with and Elxtra complex following a father figure they can date.

Think about it, Martha didn’t approve of her mom taking his dad back and we know they had been separated for many years, Rose’s dad died when she was a baby, Amy grew up with no family either. All this young girls grew up in families with no dads and are infatuated or in love with this older man that more or less looks their age.

I agree with Ricco’s assessment 100% Donna Noble was allowed to develop as a character much more than any of the other companions listed here. Her final fate was also just heart-wrenching, and one of the best bits of writing I’ve seen in the new series.

bingo! ricco, you get a cigar. doctor donna all the way, even if k9 is a rad accessory.

the comedy went down smoothly with noble, and the story was less connected to “will they or won’t they rock the tardis?” frankly, i would rather see amusing timetravel or new alien species than a moonstruck assistant pining away.

I have only started watching Dr. Who at the end of 2010. But, thanks to my DVR, being unemployed for 7 months, and BBC New Year’s Day Marathon I have seen all of the episodes from David Tennant to current. I voted for Rose b/c she was my first… The first episode that I saw was when the Doctor met Rose Tyler and from that point on I was hooked. But, it was hard for me not to pick Martha b/c it was the episodes with Martha that had me cheering and jumping out of my chair during the show.

My vote is going to Martha Jones.
She had the difficult task of following up Piper’s Rose. (Which kinda sounds like a brand of whisky, now that I think about it.) And did a perfect job of it: she was prudent enough to offset the manic nature of Tennant’s doctor and as a medic in training herself; she actually managed to be useful. Which none of the other ones seemed to manage.

And don’t get me started on Donna Noble: WORST. COMPANION. EVER.
She ruined every episode she was in, at least for me. What a whiny, stupid, uninteresting character she was.

Donna for me. She’s the only one I can actually imagine having a conversation with. Not to say the others would cause me to run screaming from the room, but Donna is the one I could see spending a nice evening with talking about just about anything.

Of the companion bank, she is the one that stands out as the one willing to work the hardest to be with The Doctor simply out of love. When bereft of The Doctor, each other companion seems to regret their loss, but carries on in their own way. Donna comes closest of the group to this effect, but falls short in effort and because she enjoyed the novelty of The Doctor more so than the person.

Since Sarah Jane’s the only old-school companion, she gets my vote; I guess we’re supposed to just forget about the 20-odd years of the original series now, even according to the BBC. Rose Tyler & Davies’ attempts to reshape the show around her have made me very wary of giving New Who another shot, so I hope she comes in last. Ricco addresses the creepy undercurrent in the series that the writers (and with it, pet characters like Rose) have brought into a series whose original pretend-this-doesn’t-exist-anymore form I loved.

I voted for Sarah Jane because she is the one that had it together. I must admit that I have yet to see the old shows so I have only seen her in the new episodes. Maybe she is an example of what happens when the companions “grow-up.”

I agree with the many posts here arguing that all of the companions are too new. Leela and Romana being a perfect example, though as a girl who could resist Jamie with his cute Scottish accent and kilt?

Much love for Martha Jones. She did not feel like a “Mary Sue” the way Rose always felt to me. In addition, she was the companion smart enough to walk away when she knew she needed to; the writer’s did not have to bump her off or otherwise removed from play.

Martha Jones, Sadly Martha takes the bronze because while she was an MD and played as strong willed and go-getting, she spent much of her run just being the damsel in distress. albeit one with a sharp comment.

Donna Noble gets the Silver because as many people have been saying and indeed the cast and crew, being older and no romantic interest made her one of the stand out companions, with some of the best stories happening during her tenure. The only thing that spoiled it for me, was (IMO) the cop out at the end of her story arc. Everyone that met her and kept saying how sorry they were suggesting a very sad ending. When the Season finale showed her brain breaking because of the Time Lord mind in her ‘only human’ head, I thought she was going to die. Ah, I see what they did with the foreshadowing. But in fact she didn’t…
Further more, when she did have the relapse the doctor said would kill her… Well, other people got hurt and she… well, she just fell asleep.

So the Gold goes to Amelia Pond For three reasons.
1) Strong, Sassy and clever. When fighting the angels, she closes one eye at a time. When confronting the Munch (That’s Moon-ch, as in the scream ) Aliens in black suits, she made the lightning fast logical leap to capture them on her phone.
2) For being quirky without being in your face. Being the only scottish girl in an English village, for maintaining the ‘raggedy Doctor’ for years despite being teased about it. For being all noble one minute: “You have to run, the angels are coming.” To: “Ow! You bit me! Do you have super sharp space teeth or something?” in the blink of an eye.
3) For wearing a kiss-o-gram policewoman’s uniform and mini skirts for many subsequent episodes

Soooooo, I’ve HAD to vote Sarah Jane. She just rocked…and her reappearance in the RTD series was a stroke of genius, showing just how messed up the abandoned companions can get.

Of the new companions, Donna gets my vote. Quippy and full of life (post Wedding disaster), she cranked the awesome up to eleven. It was such a shame that so much of her story arc was simply a means to bringing back old companions…would’ve been great to see her shine brighter.

Rose was a fantastic character to kick off the return of Doctor Who, and I truly loved Billie Piper’s “just do it” attitude.

Martha…the less said about Martha the better. Dreary and Feckless, I liked her not one bit.

Think about the best episodes of Series 3: “Blink” and Paul Cornell’s “Human Nature”/”The Family of Blood”. They were awesome, awesome episodes.

The RTD era’s system of changing one of the leads every year worked really well, but I hate how it played into the whole “Companions = Bond girls” thing. Pet fanboy grievances aside, I’ll wish really, really hard for the redhead with the advantage of the funniest lines. Donna was great too though.

Shame that including “enough” old Who companions is inevitably a bit ludicrously impractical. If you ever do another poll and iF i’ve my way The Brig would win any voting rounds with great rapidity!

I’m with Ricco as well. I would have voted for Leela (Louise Jameson), if she were an option, but I like Donna Noble. Reminds me I need to look up her preformances outside the series.
Sarah Jane Smith was kind of a screamer. I think the Doctor’s assistant would be a little tougher and more of a match for him.

The problem with Donna, IMO, was that she spent every episode shouting and crying: “What do I do?” “Doctor, What do I do?” She was such a victim. Frankly I was very glad when they took her memory, because I grew tired of her whining. She finally redeemed herself when she had to jump in front of the truck and change time.

Rose and Amy, on the other hand, were take action girls from the get-go. I voted for Rose, because she was the first (of the modern series incarnation), but it could easily have been Amy. They were both kick-ass heroines worthy of the Doctor.